Beimel: Cooney just a parish priest who died young

February 14, 2014

By

Becky Polaski

Photo by Becky Polaski
The grave of the Reverend Cornelius T. Cooney, located in the lower section of St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, has become part of St. Marys folklore.

Though local historian Ray Beimel began his recent tour of St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery with the statement that he would not be telling any ghost stories, he concluded his tour by addressing and dispelling one of the more popular tales that has become a part of St. Marys folklore.Â
The Reverend Cornelius T. Cooney was born in 1892 in Renovo and died in 1935 while serving in a parish in the Erie Diocese in Grove City.Â